The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-01-05
Servants Wages.

1t must be admitted that all dealings
with female house servants are entrust-
ed to women. They, then are responsi-
BILE for the prices paid for the work they
have to offer; and it is equally clear
that they are paying for it at the ratio
with which nothing else in the labor
market is comparable. Are female serv-
ants scarcep Certainly not Look at
the crowded benches in our so-called
Intelligence Heaven save the marki]
offices" glance at the long line OF steer
age passengers, as they de6le at Castle
Garden from the crowded decks OF our
emigrant ships. Hundreds of women
and girls are Fastening to our shores
from every part of Europe, asking for
places in our kitchens. Is it that most
of these are ignorant and valueless to
the housekeeper who must have skilled
labor? No. Ignorant most OF them
certainly are, and many seem incapa-
BILE of learning. yet the Irish girl who,
if employed in Dublin, would consider
herself well paid for her labor by t10,
or at most fl2, per annum, no sooner
presses her foot upon American soil
than she demands 5000.
More than any class of women in the
world, if we except the indolent Asiatic,
do American women need servants.
We have not the rubust frame nor the
sturdy. cength of the British matron or
the German Hdusfrdu. Our climate is
exhausting, our lives are varied and ex-
citing, our frames are slight. and our
nerves weak. We can do much with our
heads,-much planning and thinking,
much arranging and directing. Tosup-
plement this we need the strong arms,
the tireless backs, of the peasant women
of the old world. If we were wise and
sensible enough to pay them moderate
ly but fairly, to make them dress suita-
bly, and live plainly, in every case where
we now can have but one pair of hands
to assist in the household work, while
we make shift to do the rest, we might
have two Yes, there is no question
that if the maid-of-all-work. who now
receives sixteen dollars per month. and
is fed like one of the family" were to
receive the same wages that an English
housekeeper would pay, to eat what
English servants are given to eat instead
of our broils and roasts and dainty lux
uries in the way of desserts. the jaded
female head of our smaller American
households would find that she could
keep two girls" without adding dol
lar to her yearly expenses
And why cannot this be done2 Is il
not positive wrong that it should moi
| be done? The poor of Europe are
crowding our shores, demanding work.
and there is none for them; begging fol
food and shelter, and suffering misery
and lapsing into SIN for want of decent
homes and honest labor. Are not oul
women blind to their duty in giving one
what is abundant for two. in keeping
up an unnatural and unreasonable scale
| of prices for the benefit of fewP We
have not waited for our employees tc
impress the boycott upon US; we have
boycotted ourselves Without reason,
without outside pressure, in defiance d
common sense, and to their detrimeni
and ours, we insist upon 3 state Of at
fairs that is sarcasm upon our judg
ment, and convincing proof that
whatever we may attain to in the fut
ure, men are very right yet in saying
that we lack business knowledge ant
capacity, and show ourselves singularl1
unintelligent in regard to the conducl
of affairs - November Atl0ntic.